Last TdF Post for 2011

Just when you thought you were completely over the 2011 Tour de France along comes a great series of photo's covering the three glorious weeks.

I've added my favourite and Don's favourite just to whet you appetite:

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/07/tour-de-france-2011---part-1/100105/

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/07/tour-de-france-2011---part-2/100114/

TdF Final Stage

Some wise words from Adrian...

So, let's see if I've got this right. Andy does a great ride, but doesn't get yellow. Because Cadel for the first time in le Tour stamped himself all over it. I don't mean this year, I mean any year.Two years ago with a bunch that won't can't work he would have done the racing equivalent of pouting, shrugged and settled that it couldn't happen. Not last night. This time he didn't just bite the bullet he loaded a howitzer and shouldered arms and dragged everyone up with him. Close to two minutes he took back. If I were a Schleck I'd be anxious, yeah Andy stayed away but as it went on and up the gap was starting to tumble.

Meanwhile Tommy V, resplendent in yellow is riding true to character.Soft pedaling to then attack the breakaway (Flecha's damning about him not even pausing as he was hit by the car) each day playing the same game about how he will be dropped, hiding in the bunch. The team doing just enough before someone else takes over. Where's Hinault in all this? He needs to badger him out. Voeckler has spent all his time and energy simply wanting to stay in yellow each day, rather than actually trying to win the race. Maybe swap a turn, or sacrifice a team mate to claw back time from Andy, but no, follow the wheels. Accidental bloody yellow.

Tonight? Assume Frank will go for it, Voeckler will do even more to make sure he manages to ride around France without getting a suntan.But really, no bloody idea. But I reckon Cadel has shown he is the best and most consistent but Jesus, I hope he takes it up to Andy today because he must be buttered.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Thanks to Don for pointing this little gem from yahoo uk eurosport:

Frandy were hit with a sucker punch on Tuesday's stage 16 when they failed to grasp that one of their rivals would ever consider an attack while it was raining.

"Frankly," said Frank, "we did not expect an attack. It's well played. Bjarne (Riis) is behind this. He knows we don't like the bad weather and the descent. Congratulations to them, it's a nice one."

The idea of attacking four kilometres from the summit of a potentially decisive climb is new to the Schlecks, who are keener to throw down the hammer in the closing 500m of uphill tests, picking up two-second advantages piecemeal.

Both brothers could not keep up with the pace of Saxo Bank's Alberto Contador on the Col de Manse, and when BMC's Cadel Evans set a blistering pace down the narrow descent to La Rochette, the vertiginous Schlecks were found out.

Younger Schleck, Andy, was particularly aggrieved at having lost more than a minute in such an unfair manner.

"People don't want a race that is decided in a downhill," he harrumphed at the finish in Gap, forgetting that it had been Contador's series of uphill attacks that had really done for his chances. "It was a dangerous finish. I was not feeling great when he attacked and I did a bad descent. But is this really what people want to see? A finish like this should not be allowed. We have families waiting for us at home. Do the public want a fair race or a race which ends in hospital?" he added, on a day which saw no hospitalisations.

Schleck's whining was not so much a question of sour grapes as a whole sour vineyard.Maybe he thinks that if he complains enough, race director Christian Prudhomme - in the same way that he altered the green jersey competition to suit Mark Cavendish - will see the light and come up with a Tour of 21 summit finishes and no downhill whatsoever, thereby gifting Andy a probable 42-second overall win.

As it is, Schleck Junior has seen his advantage over a resurgent Contador whittled down to just 39 seconds - the same advantage that the Spaniard beat him by last year in Paris.
Worrying news for Andy is his admission that he "knew Contador would attack" and yet failed to do anything about it. Hardly form of a potential Tour champion.
The Schlecks' failure to take significant time gains from their main rivals in the Pyrenees could well be about to come back and haunt them. All of a sudden, being stoked about a two-second gain seems somewhat laughable.

Laughable, too, are the Schlecks' tactics and PR machine. With both brothers pretty much admitting they don't like wet downhills on the eve of another stage which features a similar downhill finish - which could well be wet - it is an open invitation for further attacks.
"The gap (time lost today) means nothing. I'm in great shape, I can affirm that. I have showed it and I will continue to show it," poker-faced Andy at about the same time that Rupert Murdoch was attacked by a custard pie.

"The Tour is not over, it has just started. Today's episode is not a tragedy. We will stay on our path," he schoolteacher-ed in that inimitable way of his, before adding, tellingly: "We need to gain time."

Saddles has not checked up on the reaction of Leotard manager Bryan Nygaard, but no doubt it will be steeped in spin, something along the lines of: "Yet again both Andy and Frank showed they are in the form of their life. The way they managed to complete that demanding descent in such treacherous conditions without falling was incredible.
"It was tactical to let Evans and Contador ride on ahead - we believe they will tire themselves out before the big mountains. As for Sanchez, we're not underestimating him so much as forgetting he's around."

TdF Stage 18

A thrilling stage awaits us all on Thursday night. RedKitePrayer as always has the clearest insight:

What has surprised me is how many journalists, bloggers and friends have complained of uninteresting and negative racing. Perhaps I was watching a different race. What I saw on stage 14 looked like the sixth round of a ten-round title fight. Each of those attacks would have crumpled mortal riders. Watching for who might attack next and when the attack did come watching for who was slow to respond kept me leaning into the TV and breathless.

We have four mountain stages left. The first two end with descents (yay, I like descents), while the final two end atop hors categorie climbs. Tomorrow’s stage into Gap is one where a breakaway with no-name riders might, finally, work. We’re bound to see some fireworks on the climb to Sestrieres, but it’s unlikely to result in any significant shakeup to the GC. Would could be interesting, though, is the steep descent off of the Cote de Pramartino with less than a half kilometer of flat to the finish. I wouldn’t be surprised if Voeckler punched it on the descent.

Some race fans won’t like it, but the big moves that decide the race will happen on the Galibier on their way to Serre Chevalier. The riders can’t afford to wait for l’Alpe d’Huez to try to blow the race apart. The Col Agnel is, based on my experience, steep enough that many domestiques will be rendered useless long before the race reaches the foot of the Col d’Izoard.

A word on stage 19: It’s as classic a mountain stage as can be devised. Begin the day with a downhill warmup to the foot of the Col du Telegraphe. After 12km of climbing, give them a brief (4km) descent to recover before throwing them at one of the most feared climbs in cycling, the 18km up to the Col du Galibier. Don’t expect a break including any favorites to go there, though. The descent from the top of the Galibier to the foot of l’Alpe d’Huez is nearly 50km and except for the upper portion of the Galibier, it’s not a technical descent; a group can haul ass (that’s a technical term) for le Bourg d’Oisans.

We can forgive the riders if they seem a bit conservative, even tentative. While the stage 14 attacks can’t be called timid, the responses in most cases were an only-as-much-as-necessary effort to keep the opposition in check. With the race this tight, one wrong move could dock you six spots on GC.

TdF Stage 9

More beautiful images from Veeral Patel at the Tour de France 2011.